While I Waited
by LuminiaAravis
Summary: After the Triwizard Tournament, Sirius is dispatched to find members for the new Order of the Phoenix. Meanwhile, Nymphadora Tonks is bored out of her mind, but is in for the surprise of a lifetime.


Nymphadora Tonks was in her sitting room, cozy in her apartment in London. It was a dreary, rainy night, and it was desperately chilly outside. Although she was at ease in front of her fireplace with a hot cup of tea, she was urgently lonely. Life just hadn't been exciting enough lately, she thought. Sure, being an auror was fun and all, but something was missing. There was no intrigue to keep her occupied, no underlying plotlines to follow. She was bored.

Then came a knock at her door. It was the last person she expected: Remus Lupin. And he had a dog with him. A very mangy dog at that. Tonks was delighted all the same, and threw her arms around Lupin's neck and pecked him on the cheek. "Remus, it's been ages! What're you doing here at this time of night?" Lupin was soaking wet and shivering, so she invited him into her apartment. He took off his shoes and coat, and headed into the sitting room. The black dog followed him. The dog shook the water out of his coat, and limped to the fireplace where he promptly laid down on the hearthrug.

"Dora, I have urgent news," Lupin said. "It's about what happened not a week ago during the Triwizard Tournament."

"You mean about that Hufflepuff that died?" Tonks asked, much interested. "What was his name…Diggory? Or something?"

"No, something that the Ministry has done its best to cover up," Lupin said in a hushed voice.

The dog woofed softly and then whined, and Lupin looked at it expectantly. "What is it?" The dog moaned and turned over onto his back. Though he was covered in long matted fur, it was plain that he was emaciated. "Poor thing," Tonks remarked. "I'll get it something to eat, shall I? And tea, Remus, for you?"

"Please," Lupin replied as he sat down, "but first something for my friend." Tonks scurried to the kitchen and got some bread and cheese out of the cupboard. She sliced the cheese liberally, and brought the snack into the hall on a tray. As she approached the sitting room, though, she heard Lupin speaking. She poked her head around the corner.

"Sirius, you're going to have to show yourself sooner or later." Tonks stopped. Lupin was talking to the dog, which wasn't a dog anymore. Instead, and equally mangy man was sitting in front of her fireplace. He looked familiar, but Tonks never recalled seeing him before in her life.

"Nah," the man said, "if she saw me before you explained things about the Order, then she'd arrest me. She can do that, you know. She is an auror. Sorry, Remus. I'm willing to take a few risks here, but I'm not willing to stick out my hands and say, 'Here, cuff me!'"

"Sirius," Lupin laughed, "you've been watching too much muggle TV."

It sounded like this man was wanted. But who was he? A little flag went off in Tonks' brain, and she quietly went over to her fridge.

There was an old newspaper clipping posted to the front of it. There was a picture of her lost cousin on there, a picture of Sirius Black shortly before he escaped from Azkaban almost two years ago. She had posted the clipping up partially because she worked closely with Kingsley Shacklebolt, who was in charge of the hunt for Black. The other reason was because Sirius had been her favorite cousin before he was arrested, and she hadn't wanted to believe that he was guilty of murdering innocent people. She hadn't wanted to believe that he was You-Know-Who's right hand man. The fact that Sirius Black was sitting in her living room was too much to bear. Should she arrest him, or embrace him? The decision was clear: she would have to take him into the Ministry.

Tonks drew her wand quietly and crept over to the sitting room. Lupin was still talking to Black distractedly, as if she couldn't hear. She hid behind the door until the right moment. She waited until Lupin walked around the corner, and stunned him silently. Sirius called out when he hit the floor, "Remus? Are you alright?"

Sirius walked around the corner into the hall unawares, and Tonks yelled, _"Stupify!"_ Black heard her and ducked; he was much quicker than Lupin. After realizing that he was under arrest, Sirius dashed into the kitchen. "Hold it, Black!" Tonks cried, and it hurt her to call him "Black" instead of "Sirius". Stop this nonsense, she told herself; he's not that person anymore. "You are under arrest by the authority of the Ministry!"

"Dora!" Black shouted. "You don't understand, this is a big mistake!" Tonks ran after him and cornered him in her bedroom. He had been about to jump out the window, when Tonks yelled, _"Petrificus Totalus!"_ and Sirius fell to the floor, his whole body rigid as a board. She went over to him and looked at him.

Black was genuinely afraid. He had the look of a doomed animal on his face, and a profound frown was on his lips. Black was even thinner in human form than he was in animal form, and from the exposed skin beneath his tattered robes, Tonks could see every bone. Sirius panted, out of breath. She looked into his eyes. They were dark and shadowed, as though Azkaban had burned itself onto his pupils. The lovely grey that Tonks had remembered he had for irises was not gentle and smooth like it had been before. It was steely, coarse, and hard. His eyes told her the story of his life as of lately, and it was a story of loss and sorrow. His eyes begged her not take him back to Azkaban. They begged her with all his heart. For he still had a heart, contrary to what she had believed.

"Sirius," Tonks said gently. "Is…is that you?" Are you still the man I remember from all those years ago, when I was still a child, and Voldemort meant nothing to me? His eyes answered yes. She crouched over him and brushed the hair off his forehead, and touched his cold cheek. "It is you in there, isn't it?" Tonks whispered.

She drew her wand again, and Sirius panicked, breathing faster. Tonks raised her wand, and Sirius watched the tip rise in the air. Tonks lifted the curse.

"Thanks Dora," Sirius breathed. He lay flat on his back, breathing heavily. "You had me going for a moment there," he said, almost laughing. He looked up at her. "Does this mean you don't think I'm a mad mass murderer?"

Tonks took a moment to answer: "Well, when I was little, I thought you were the greatest person I knew. But when my mum told me they had you put away for life, I didn't really understand. I didn't want to believe it. Now, I understand the whole matter better. I'm still so stupid! Even when you are in my own house I am too weak to arrest you! It doesn't matter to me now, because I know I'm not good enough to fight you."

Sirius looked at Tonks mournfully, and simply replied, "I didn't kill all those people."

"I want to believe you," Tonks answered. There was silence for a minute or two as Sirius got to his feet. Then Tonks suddenly remembered, "Remus! I stunned him and left him downstairs - "

"Well, go get him!" Sirius said. "I would but I can't."

"Why not?" Tonks asked.

"Seeing as I've traveled about a hundred miles in three days, on foot, with no food, in the rain…" Sirius said smugly.

"Right," Tonks said shortly as she hurried into the hallway to revive Lupin.

When he was awake, he gasped, "Dora, where's Sirius?"

"In my room," she answered.

"We should really put him back in front of the fireplace, and if you've got any Pepper-up potion he would appreciate it," Lupin said briskly. The two of them helped Sirius hobble back into the sitting room and laid him down on the hearthrug. He ate the bread and cheese ravenously. "Well," Lupin continued, "now that you've gotten past the shock of having a wanted murderer in your house, we need to get down to business."

"Sure," Tonks said. It was hard for her to look at Lupin without blushing, she fancied him so much.

"We're on orders from Dumbledore," Sirius said hoarsely, "to deliver a message to all the members of the Order of the Phoenix."

"So Dumbledore is in on this whole thing, is he?" Tonks said. Her curiosity had instantly been piqued by the phrases 'Order of the Phoenix' and 'Dumbledore'. It looked like the next few months weren't going to be boring after all. "Is he in on the whole Sirius transforming into a dog thing, too?"

"Yes," Sirius replied. "He believes that I'm innocent."

"And if Dumbledore's word isn't good enough for you, I attest to it as well," Lupin added. "I saw the evidence with my own eyes."

"So I can definitely trust you on this one, then?" Tonks asked. "I mean, we're on the same side now, for real?"

"Absolutely," Sirius said. "If all this," he indicated the bread and cheese, "didn't mean that in the first place."

Tonks smiled and laughed with delight. "This is the best!" she said triumphantly, and went over to give Sirius a smothering hug. "It's been too long!"

"I missed you too, Dora," Sirius said.

"So, what's the message?" Tonks asked, in higher spirits than when the visit had started.

"Lord Voldemort has returned," Lupin said gravely.


End file.
